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The recent cases of burning of women and killing them for honour are
not from the tribal borderlands of Pakistan, where they are known to
occur as riwaj, pakhtunwali or Balochi mayar. They are taking place
in the cities, among the labour, the working classes and even the
middle class. My study also argues that reterritorialising and
reinvention of cultural practices can and does occur but local contexts
have to be understood. For instance, the case of hijab in Europe.
Or karo kari killings in Upper Sindh, where they say they have
travelled from Balochistan. We really need to go into the details of
each case to see individual motivations behind this violence.
Eventually, in most cases, honour acts as a mask for instrumental
coldblooded violence.
Since it was the first comprehensive story ever on the issue, it drew a
big response. I continued my engagement with the subject matter even
when I changed my field, first to academics and now politics. As an
academic, I have made this the subject of both my PhD and now my
forthcoming book which is being published by Oxford University Press
and Berghahn.
But our family, and even the haveli, has now moved on; many
practices have been abandoned, and education is both encouraged and
promoted. This is because my immediate family was the torch bearer
of change, and my mother was the one who took the initiative of
educating her girls. After her death, my father took up the challenge
and being a political leader from a left and liberal party, he moved
with the times, and ensured that we, as girls, continued to get the best
and lived our lives as we wanted.
Many of my stories and my feminism was driven by this personalised
awareness and experience of the subordinated status of women in our
society. As a journalist, I explored, rediscovered and wrote about these
cultural practices to create a greater awareness.
My thesis is not just about the practice (of karo kari), as it exists in its
cultural form, but also explores how the state, the law, and the power
elite are jointly implicated in the immunity that the family and kin
enjoy in taking lives of men and women accused of damaging family
honour. It is as much a critique of how a culture of honour serves as a
mask for instrumental motives of violence as it is a critique of the laws
both colonial, for instance the Frontier Regulations, and post-
colonial Islamic laws, especially the Qisas and Diyat laws, that have
provided a formal space through which the killers are either acquitted
or given lesser punishments.
Primarily, the law mirrors the tribal jirgas. Mediations are allowed
both by the law and the tribal system. With such resonance between
the two systems, the state effectively recedes and allows private forms
of mediation. It surprises me, then, when judges react against jirgas,
as they are doing what the law indirectly stipulates.
The Anti-Honour Killings Bill, which is soon to be presented
before the joint session of Parliament, is said to be a
complete solution to the problem. Do you agree?
The other proposal is to include honour crimes in fisad fil arz, which
covers those crimes that create a scare in the society which can be non-
compoundable but this is dependent on the discretionary power of the
judge. Again this is not ideal, as honour killings might be reported as
suicides or accidental murders. The ideal solution is to do away with
the provisions of Qisas and Diyat and restore the earlier provisions of
laws of the body in the PPC, but ensure that the provision of grave and
sudden provocation is repealed, which provided for a lesser
punishment in the colonial PPC. Presently, it has already been
replaced by the newer Islamic provisions.
Even the case of Qandeel Baloch is an unusual one. In theory, men and
women who engage in adulterous relations or sexual relations outside
marriage or are seen to do so are liable to death. This did not happen
in Qandeels case, as she was not involved with any man as such.
Qandeel Baloch was using the social media to communicate her
message, which often used sexually charged expressions and forms.
But the social messaging was not to provoke sex in society, nor even
invite or tempt men towards relationships with her, but to take
political positions and postures. For instance, encouraging Pakistan to
win a match against India, or exposing a hypocritical cleric, or
opposing the Valentine ban. In my view, her messages were greatly
political, but because her method challenged social norms, and
exposed the social hypocrisy the social outrage, as a result, may have
become a trigger for her brother to act as the executioner. However,
since there are no details of what motivated her brother to silence her,
it would be difficult to draw a conclusion.
I have shown in my research that there are many other conflicts over
resources, marriages, and power struggles that may lead to
accusations of karo kari. So communities or family members may use
these allegations as a mask to settle scores. This may include fights
over property as well.
The first is to ensure equal rights for women in the social, economic
and political spheres.